Holy Spider

Released Oct 28, 2022

1 hr. 56 min.

Crime

Drama

Mystery & Thriller

List

83%

141 Reviews

Tomatometer

77%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

In HOLY SPIDER, we follow family man Saeed as he embarks on his own religious quest -- to "cleanse" the holy Iranian city of Mashhad of immoral and corrupt street prostitutes. After murdering several women, he grows ever more desperate about the lack of public interest in his divine mission.

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Critics Consensus

Holy Spider foregoes subtlety in favor of a viscerally outraged dramatization inspired by appalling actual events.

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Omid

Excellent cinematography, acting. I was impressed by how they depicted the city of Mashhad in Iran in the early 2000s, so accurately

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/10/22

Full Review

RP

This is a brilliant movie not just because it is highly entertaining. It is brilliant because of being a realistic depiction of what has actually been going on. It tells the truth! It IS the naked truth!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/14/22

Full Review

Azin

Outstanding acting and performance.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/07/22

Full Review

Alec B

Unnecessarily lurid at points but its criticisms are appropriately angry.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/26/24

Full Review

Cristina B

Knockout film with a bold premise and perfect acting. I enjoyed it from start to finish. I will say that the final scenes felt a bit dull after the racy murder-mystery at the start, but the non-plotted and rather documentary way they were done was interesting and revealed a lot about the Iranian judicial system.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/11/24

Full Review

John H

Really excellent, nothing to say

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/20/24

Full Review

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Ali Abbasi

Director

Zar Amir-Ebrahimi

Rahimi

Mehdi Bajestani

Saeed

Arash Ashtiani

Sharifi

Forouzan Jamshidnejad

Fatima

Sina Parvaneh

Rostami

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Wendy Ide

Observer (UK)

It’s a tense, atmospheric piece of film-making but it made me profoundly uncomfortable – and not, I should add, in a good way.

Rated: 2/5

Jan 22, 2023

Full Review

Kevin Maher

Times (UK)

An intensely stylish and appropriately troubling film, with stomach-churning murders and a pacy first half that’s reminiscent of David Fincher’s Zodiac.

Rated: 4/5

Jan 20, 2023

Full Review

Danny Leigh

Financial Times

The film is an Iranian social history that looks, at first, like a serial killer movie... it is both.

Rated: 4/5

Jan 19, 2023

Full Review

Grant Watson

Fiction Machine

The most disturbing part of Ali Abassi’s Holy Spider is not the grisly subject matter, nor the blunt and unpleasant depictions of several murders, but the mere fact that it is all based on a true story.

Rated: 7/10

Mar 20, 2024

Full Review

Nicolás Medina

Montevideo Portal / Latido Beat

Holy Spider is more valuable for what it says than how it says it and will undoubtedly be one of those films that will divide audiences. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 5/10

Dec 19, 2023

Full Review

Stephanie Bunbury

Deadline Hollywood Daily

Holy Spider never feels like a safe genre choice, however. Quite the opposite. It crackles and glistens with anger.

Sep 19, 2023

Full Review

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Synopsis

In HOLY SPIDER, we follow family man Saeed as he embarks on his own religious quest -- to "cleanse" the holy Iranian city of Mashhad of immoral and corrupt street prostitutes. After murdering several women, he grows ever more desperate about the lack of public interest in his divine mission.

Director: Ali Abbasi
Executive Producer: Ditte Milsted
Screenwriter: Ali Abbasi, Afshin Kamran Bahrami
Distributor: Utopia
Production Co: Wild Bunch International, One Two Films, Why Not Productions, Profile Pictures
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: Persian
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 28, 2022, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 21, 2023
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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